


At the Heart of All Things

by twipen



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: 100 Theme Challenge, F/M, Fluff, Implied Intimacy, rarepair hell
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-03
Updated: 2015-03-03
Packaged: 2018-03-16 03:46:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3473255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twipen/pseuds/twipen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They came together in what she could only call a whirlwind of fate. Clinging to the tenuous grasp they had on the control over their own lives. She hadn't meant to fall in love with him, as people seldom do, but in his eyes she found a new perspective, in his smile she found a sincere joy, and in his heart she found acceptance. And so she gladly followed fate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	At the Heart of All Things

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to thank all of the lovely people who left reviews on my other work _What the Heart Wants_.  
>  Pentaclassi has taken over my life now, and if you want to share in the Pentaclassi love, contribute to the #pentaclassi tag on tumblr!

 

**001\. Introduction**

 

There had been no time for a proper exchange of names on the battle field, with deals being struck, and the Chargers packing up and heading out, but Cassandra remembers his face.

He's the first person she's ever seen backtalk a Qunari, much less one they worked for.

He's also the first person she's ever known to open casks with axes.

She finds out later, from someone else, that his name is Cremisus Aclassi, he's Tevinter, and Lieutenant of the Chargers. He finds out from Bull her name is Cassandra, Seeker, and Right Hand of the Divine.

It was good enough for both of them, and they are never properly introduced.

 

**002\. Love**

 

When she feels it, she's not even sure what it is.

She thought she had been in love before, and it was life and duty that had ended her short relationship with Regalyan, but looking back she thinks it might have been something else.

The Lieutenant smiles when he sees her, and her face is smiling back before she even realises it.

And he presents her with a single rose, and there is a heat on her cheeks and a flutter in her stomach.

And he fails so grandly at reading poetry to her, but she only finds more affection in her heart.

And just a simple touch—over her fingers, along her back—sets a fire in her skin, and in her soul.

And this, she thinks, must be real love.

 

**003\. Light**

 

He says its nothing, like she's weightless, but she doesn't believe him.

She knows exactly how much she weights, and with her plate in addition to that... well, its more than a normal person should be able to lift, but she supposed Krem is just an above average sort of person, and she can't help being secretly pleased he can carry her so effortlessly.

But as he sets her down on her bed roll and tends to her bandages, she reminds him that its unnecessary to carry her so far for a sprained ankle

 

**004\. Dark**

 

She can't see his face, but she knows his eyes are screwed tight and he's covered in sweat. He's making small, pained grunts and agonised moans, and every now and then a fearful whine. She tries to call out to him, but it never works. She knows there will be no sleeping like this, so she props herself up just slightly, and gently feels for his head.

She strokes his hair, and it always calms him down, and he stops thrashing at least.

She can feel it when he wakes up, and he gasps her name. She hushes him, and guides him up against her chest. He clutches tightly, and he's shaking. She can't see his face, but she doesn't need to to know what he needs.

 

**005\. Seeking Solace**

 

Too much. Its all too much, and the Seekers are gone. And they were all betrayed. She was betrayed. Sometimes, in the days that follow, she thinks she can handle it, other times, like now, all of it is too much.

He seems to know, when he sees her. She doesn't know how, but he always knows, and they sit in her quarters in the smithy and he reads to her.

He lets her rest her head on his lap—an action she never thought she would appreciate so much—and he gently strokes a hand through her hair. Sometimes she falls asleep like that, and he's still there when she wakes, and other times, she lets herself be at peace.

For once.

With him.

 

**006\. Break Away**

 

Mother Giselle tells her it would be blasphemous, but she does it anyway.

Her cousins and aunts and uncles and second cousins that her uncle had inevitably told write to her by the day, telling her she can not do it, and it will bring shame upon her, but she does it anyway.

She had left that life behind, that lineage behind, though it would not leave her. But she would do it again, with every beat her heart makes as she stands in front of him. She would give it all up a hundred times over for the moment he has to stand up on his toes to kiss her.

Even in this silly dress that she had worn for him, even with every scandal whispered in her name, she would not give this moment up for anything.

And who would have thought a Seeker would be bound in life to a 'Vint?

 

**007\. Heaven**

 

Krem, she knows, is not Andrastian. He subscribes to whatever it is the Tevinter Imperium calls their religion, the one that does not believe in Andraste. He believes in the Maker, however, though his faith is not so important to her.

They agree they can never discuss religion, because Cassandra can go for hours, and Krem is not confrontational enough to contradict her, but he will also not waver in his beliefs. It happened only once, and it ended in a whole day of silence between the two and a rather sheepish apology afterwards.

She does not need him to believe, because _she_ believes and it is enough for her.

 

** 008\. Innocence **

 

Neither of them are new to this, but it feels like a first for both of them. 

Cassandra's finger's feel thick as she loosens one of the many buckles on his armour. Krem mutters harsh things in Tevene as his fingers slip again from the fasteners on her breastplate. Even though they are most likely curses, Cassandra finds the deepness of his voice and his accent very attractive, particularly in his native tongue.

It seems like an eternity before enough of their clothing is off to be considered “good enough” and skin touches skin. They're laughing about it as he lays her down on the bed, and he crawls over her, and smiles with such an open fondness.

And suddenly, it feels like his touch is all she knows.

 

** 009\. Drive **

 

They both have goals, they both have dreams, and they both have homes.

Cassandra knows this, and she knows that someday it  will be the fork in the road that they must each travel down alone. Someday seems so much sooner after the defeat of Corypheus. Vivienne is elected Divine, and Cassandra, with a blessing from the Inquisitor, rebuilds the Seekers from within in Inquisitions walls. The Bull's Chargers Mercenary Company stays, for the time being, but Cassandra knows there is no other option for them but to move on. To better contracts and better pay.

And taking her love with them.

Once in a while, watching him sleep, she dreams of going with him. She could be a Charger, and they could fight side-by side. But she could never be a mercenary; she wants to make too much change in the world to abandon these goals.

And she would never ask him to stay.

So she waits, and she prepares, and those nights she watches him sleep, she kisses him softly.

 

** 010\. Breathe Again **

 

It's been too long. They were supposed to be back a week ago. 

She knows he's strong, and he can handle himself, but his jobs are dangerous, and no mission should ever run a week late. She's agitated, anxious, and most people won't talk to her unless it's urgent. Bull reassures her that his men are the best, strong, and good at what they do, and she asks him again if he's heard anything. He tells her no, and she leaves. 

She's nearly punching holes through trees in her worry that manifests itself as restless anger, no one talks to her anymore, except the particularly foolish, and she is inconsolable.

But when she sees him stride through that gate, injured, but very much alive, she smiles, and feels as if a rock had been pulled from her chest. All of Skyhold sighs with her.

 


End file.
